Taking care of my little family and that pesky Cinderella story once again...

Saturday I took off into the city to do that kind of shopping that we all hate to do but we have to do to "take care of me and my little family" - tooth paste, tooth brushes, new running shoes (mine were shot and had been for the past two weeks, thus hurting my feet), kitty litter (obviously for kitty friends, part of my family), AC adapter for my radio (don't buy batteries, bad for our environment, also my family), feathers for my crazy samba head pieces, oil change and new wipers for my car (she's my family too), running around. They weren't fun errands or things I enjoyed buying but they're the things you need to do to take care of your little family - no matter who that includes.

Cinderella... Midnight, shoes, and stepsisters
We arrived at Neumo's in Capital Hill after spending a few hours greeting ready. Dressed in bright orange, Christine in black, with 2' tall headpieces and plenty of things that made noise, we headed down Broadway, heads turning, compliments abound. Though an hour late, the place was barely fill and we were the ONLY people dressed up. I loved it! We were like Cinderella - we were the best dressed at the ball. The DJ was great, speaking only Portuguese, to a very virbrant Brazilian audience. I had no idea there was such a strong Brazilian community!

It took Christine a couple drinks and many "You look like Selma Hayak - no -better" compliments before she decided to stay - but she had already hit the home run with her beautiful costume. The live band arrived on stage (the same one from Wonder Bar) and the crowd went NUTS. We were samba dancing with past year's Carnival festival being projected on a screen behind us. It was fast, ferious and fun. My samba shoes were starting to kill my feat but I didn't care. It was so much fun to be dancing with so many people.

The first set was done - it was 12:20 a.m. The band made promises to come back for a dance competition (which I would surely try) and a costume contest! Costumes! Were would win for sure! We were the only one's with costumes - some people sported Marti Gras bead necklaces but nothing like us. I turned to Christine and said, Oh, a costume contest! We'll win. I'm going, she said. I've had enough. But let's just stay thru the contest - like 20 more minutes - then we'll go. Well you can stay, but I'm going home. What do you say to that - my stuff was at her house, I didn't want her to walk home alone, I felt like the clock struck midnight and it was time to go before I turned back into the nondescript Midwestern that I was, loosing my sambista feathers, beads and sequins.

So we left. I was disappointed - I left the carnival ball but didn't leave a my calling card behind. I skated around Greenlake today - 3 times - 9 miles and thought it through. There were other carnival balls coming but and I would be sure to stay thru the evening, all evening, like Cinderella should have.